CANNES: 'Blue Is the Warmest Color' Wins Palme d' Or

May 26, 2013|Justin Chang | Variety

CANNES -- "Blue Is the Warmest Color," Abdellatif Kechiche's sweeping and sexually explicit drama about a French teenage girl's love affair with another woman, received the Palme d'Or at the 66th annual Cannes Film Festival on Sunday night. In a history-making decision, the Steven Spielberg-led jury opted not only to give the first Palme d'Or to a gay romantic drama, but to present the accolade jointly to three artists: Tunisian-born director Abdellatif Kechiche and French actresses Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux.

With its 175-minute running time (the longest of any film in competition) and graphic lesbian sex scenes, "Blue Is the Warmest Color" dominated festival conversation following its first press screenings on Wednesday night and was swiftly acquired for Stateside distribution by IFC's Sundance Selects. Still, audiences at the Palais des Festivals were held in some suspense until the final moments of the ceremony, as Exarchopoulos' presence had led many to assume she had won the actress prize, which would have technically prevented "Blue" from also winning the Palme.

This is the second year in a row that the festival's top prize has gone to a French-language feature, as Austrian helmer's Paris-set drama "Amour" won in 2012. It also represents a rare instance of a director winning Cannes' top prize for his first film in competition; Kechiche's previous two films, "The Secret of the Grain" (2007) and "Black Venus" (2010), bowed in competition at the Venice Film Festival (where "Grain" was a multiple prizewinner).

At a press conference following the ceremony, Spielberg praised Kechiche's filmmaking: "For me, the film is a great love story that made all of us feel privileged to be a fly on the wall, to see this story of deep love and deep heartbreak evolve from the beginning. The director didn't put any constraints on the narrative, on the storytelling. He let the scenes play in real life, and we were absolutely spellbound."

The Grand Prix went to "Inside Llewyn Davis," Joel and Ethan Coen's warmly received comedy-drama set against New York's 1960s folk-music scene. It's the eighth film the Coen brothers have had in competition at Cannes; they won the Palme d'Or for 1991′s "Barton Fink," as well as directing prizes for "Barton Fink," "Fargo" (1996) and "The Man Who Wasn't There" (2001).

The Coens weren't the only Yank talents recognized at Sunday's Audrey Tautou-hosted closing ceremony. In a widely applauded decision, 76-year-old Bruce Dern drew the actor kudo for his performance as an aging husband and father in Alexander Payne's black-and-white road movie "Nebraska."

In perhaps the evening's biggest upset, Mexican helmer Amat Escalante received the directing nod for his third feature, "Heli." A tough drama about a family torn apart by drug-related gang violence, the film screened on the first evening of the festival and generated discussion primarily for its attention-grabbing image of a man having his genitals set on fire.

Berenice Bejo took the actress award for her performance as a Parisian woman seeking a divorce from her Iranian husband in Asghar Farhadi's "The Past." The last time Bejo appeared in a Cannes competition entry was in 2011 with "The Artist," for which she later received an Oscar nomination.

Two of the three Asian films in competition were singled out for recognition. The jury prize was awarded to "Like Father, Like Son," Japanese helmer Hirokazu Kore-eda's delicate drama about two families who discover their sons were swapped at birth, while Chinese writer-director Jia Zhangke was given the screenplay prize for "A Touch of Sin," his four-part drama based on real-life episodes of violence in contempo China.

In another victory for an Asian film, albeit one outside the official selection, the Camera d'Or jury, headed by Agnes Varda, presented its prize for best first feature to Singaporean helmer Anthony Chen's Directors' Fortnight entry "Ilo ilo." Chen noted in his acceptance speech that his was the first pic from Singapore to receive an award in Cannes.

Before Sunday's ceremony, the Un Certain Regard jury, headed by Thomas Vinterberg, gave its top award to "The Missing Picture," Cambodian helmer Rithy Panh's documentary account of his childhood under the Pol Pot regime, and a jury prize to "Omar," helmer Hany Abu-Assad's drama about young Palestinian men driven to violence.

Ryan Coogler's first feature, "Fruitvale Station," received a Future prize, adding to its two big wins at Sundance, while a directing award was presented to Gallic helmer Alain Guiraudie for his gay-cruising thriller "Stranger by the Lake," acquired during the festival by Strand Releasing. Finally, the Un Certain Regard jury handed a special A Certain Talent award to the ensemble cast of "La jaula de oro," an immigration thriller from Mexico-based Spanish helmer Diego Quemada-Diaz.